Atlanta Constitution
Sunday, May 25th, 1913
He Will Not Go to Trial Before the Latter Part of June, According to Solicitor General Dorsey.
Leo M. Frank, indicted Saturday afternoon for the murder of Mary Phagan, the 14-year-old girl whose dead body was found at 3 o'clock on the morning of April 27 in the basement of the National Pencil factory, will not go to trial before the latter part of June, according to a statement which Solicitor General Hugh M. Dorsey made last night.
Newt Lee, the negro night watchman, who called the police to the place, was left under consideration by the grand jury. A bill of indictment charging him with the same murder was presented to the grand jury with the bill against the factory superintendent, but the grand jury failed to act, and it is believed that his case will be allowed to rest, pending the trial of the indicted man.
Both Confined in Tower.
Both Superintendent Frank and the negro, Lee, have been confined in the Tower since they were ordered held by the coroner's jury for the murder of the girl.
In discussing the time of Frank's trial, the solicitor stated that he could not say when it would be started.
"It will not be possible to hold it before the latter part of June," he asserted, "and whether or not it is held then depends on a number of things. I have much work to do to get the case ready and there is also the defense to be considered, as they may secure additional time.
"I do not know what action will be taken in regard to Lee," he replied to a query on this point. "The grand jury still has his case under consideration, but I do not expect them to meet again before June 6.—Of course, they meet whenever they see fit, and may take any action at any time; that rests with them."
The indictment against Frank, which came after a two-days' session, was secured at 12:20 o'clock Saturday afternoon. In all, the grand jury gave about five hours' time to the hearing. After the final witness had left the room, the solicitor remained with them a short time, not over ten minutes. They then went into executive session and he retired to his office. He had barely got to his desk when he was sent for and told that a true bill had been found.
Frank Charged With Murder.
The true bill formally charges, "That Leo M. Frank did murder, in that in the county aforesaid (Fulton), state of Georgia, on the 26th day of April, in the year of our Lord, 1913, with force of arms, he did unlawfully and with malice aforethought, kill and murder one Mary Phagan, by then and there choking her, said Mary Phagan, with a cord that he placed around her neck."
The bill of indictment which the solicitor asked against Newt Lee is understood to be practically the same in wording as that which he succeeded in obtaining against Frank.
The probe on Saturday was taken up promptly at 10 o'clock, when the jury sent for Miss Grace Hix, a fellow employee with Mary Phagan, and the girl who first identified her body. A few minutes later she was
